Be Your Best YOU

Who doesn’t want to be a better version of themselves? We all truly want to be more and want to get more out of life, but often settle due to limitations we create for ourselves. Whether that be acknowledging that we “don’t have the time”, or that “it’s too hard”, or even the dreaded “I just can’t.”

Taking steps towards being a better you and living your best life doesn’t have to be so demanding. You don’t have to make huge commitments or totally change your life around. You can implement small incremental changes that create a positive ripple effect that can completely alter and improve your state of mind, physical body, and emotional control.

Here are 10 simple things I’ve done that completely turned my life around and helped me to be happier and healthier each day.

1. Pray every day. Just take time out each day once or twice a day to speak to God, the universe, your subconscious mind, or whatever you believe in to say thank you and show gratitude for the blessings in your life and ask for blessings for others in your life as well.

2. Positive self talk. Talk to yourself. Praise yourself for your achievements and remind yourself of your goals. Tell yourself honestly where you are lacking and make steps to improve in those areas. Show yourself some love, encouragement and grace.

3. Exercise every day. Get some exercise in every day. Multiple times a day if possible. Remember not every day has to be a huge effort though. Some days can be just a quick set of push-ups even, and other days can be a full workout session. Just as long as it’s some sort of exercise EVERY DAY.

4. Eat healthy. Make good choices for your body type, your goals and your activity level. If you worked hard, reward yourself and eat what you like. If you didn’t do much physical activity, then limit yourself to lighter choices. Cook and make your own meals.

5. Lead with love. Be kind and loving to all those around you. Remember when people treat you poorly, it’s not a reflection of you, but of them. You don’t know what they are going through or dealing with. Show some grace and let them be where they are. Don’t take it personally or let it move you off your center. Just pray they have better days and keep letting love be at the forefront of all that you do.

6. Write Everyday. Write how you feel at any given moment. Write your dreams, your ideas, your goals. Write a letter to someone that you wish you could say to them, but don’t send it. Or do send it, if you really want to share with them. Write down a list of things you want to improve on. Write a list of your best attributes or successes. Write a list of your values, wants, needs, and desires to manifest them into your life. Write anything down to help get the weight out of your mind and heart and to bring these thoughts into the physical realm.

7. Read when you can. Choose some non-fiction reading. Biographies, self-help books, how to’s, etc. Feed your learning mind and expand on your growth as a person.

8. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Do things you suck at or things you think you can’t do. Fail miserably at them if need be. But just try. Keep pushing yourself to get better and learn. Remember, if others can do it, so can you. It may just take a little more effort. Even if you don’t really want to do it, just do it anyway to prove to yourself that you CAN. You might even discover that you actually are good at something or that you actually really enjoy it.

9. Stop complaining. Everyone has problems. Focusing on the negative with yourself or when speaking with others just keeps you in a negative energy. It may feel like it helps to temporarily get it off your chest, but it allows that negative energy to consume you and you continue to attract and project negatively. Keep your conversations with yourself and others positive. If all you have to say is negative, take some time to look inward and consider your blessings and be grateful. Find a way to overcome the negatives and turn them into positives, then share that energy instead.

10. Rest with purpose. If you are physically or mentally tired, then rest. But don’t overdo it. Don’t just sleep because you’re bored or depressed. It will keep you there. Take a Power Nap if need be without fully sleeping for hours. If you wake up naturally, get up! Use your newly acquired energy. If you just keep hitting snooze or going back to sleep, you will wake up more tired. Use your rest time to your advantage. Focus on your breathing, self-talk, prayer, listen to audio books or guided meditation, make use of your resting time to fully get the most out of it to fully heal and benefit your body, mind, heart and soul.